Georgia Department of Labor – Career Center

A joke. No help whatsoever in locating work in drafting, specifically who has General Services Administration or Military engineering work, the only work going on now in my field. I would expect DOL might have this information to help folks looking for work! Mysteriously ineligible to receive benefit of job training available to others. After changing my address, two UI checks went missing; they were returned to DOL because a UI check can’t be forwarded. So OK, let’s get them re-​cut and sent to my new address. I drove all the way to DOL four times to try to straighten this out with them. The fouth visit I was told they didn’t owe the checks to me after all. Unemployed and down $ 660 I was told three timesI had coming. Employees surly in the face of polite inquiries. Some employee’s clothes filthy beyond belief.

Second that – the computers are FILTHY. The people range from business-​like to surly. As far as actually helping you find another job, I found this place (like most other government run agencies) essentially WORTHLESS. Hopefully your experience will be better than the one I had there…
If you’re unemployed, I wish you luck – the Economy/​Job situation is NOT «improving” – no matter what/​who the current régime claims/​blames…

If you’re reading this, there is a pretty good chance you’ve recently become unemployed. Welcome to the breadline!
You can’t apply online for unemployment benefits. If you want paid, you’re gonna have to physically goto a dept of labor office to apply.
I went mid day on a Tuesday. The whole process took about an hour.
The employment counselors I encountered were quite professional.
Here’s a brief overview of what i had to go through.
First, find the main desk. The counselor there will verify your soc#, and some information about you last place of employment.
The second counselor will give you a packet of information and direct you to a class room. You’ll spend about 20 minutes reviewing unemployment information.
Find an empty computer because you’ll be submitting you unemployment claim online.
If you elect to have your check direct deposited, you’ll need to know you banking acct & routing #.
I recall having to submit a reason for being unemployed. Be very careful in how you describe your situation because it will be reviewed.
Within 7 days expect to recieve a letter detailing your eligibility.
GA is considered a capped state. The maximum weekly payout is $ 330. if you make 500k your max weekly payout will still be 330.
Within 20 days you’ll get a second letter. This letter will tell you if you’ve been approved or denied.

Given the current economy it seems appropriate to make the GA Department of Labor my 400^th Unilocal.It’s also a little personal for me because earlier this month I found myself unemployed for the second time in a year. CRAZINESS!
I really can’t complain too much about the process for filing unemployment. Fortunately, most of it can be done online (after you get beyond the first steps) and once it’s granted there is limited hassle. In my case, I was very appreciative to my reviewer last year for listening to my side of the story and I felt like they were protecting my interests over my former employer. When you’re unemployed and about to be broke, that’s a good feeling.
This time around I was much better prepared (financially and otherwise) when I was laid off, although that wasn’t the plan. My advice to anyone who is in a similar situation is to file immediately after being dismissed from your job and BE HONEST with the reviewer. Tell the truth and you’ll be rewarded.
So why not a perfect 5-​star review? Well… the computers there are really dirty. They should pass out hand sanitizer. Seriously. Also, the wait is insane right now. It took almost 2 hours just to re-​open my claim (and they already had most of my information on file from last time) and there were only a few seats left in the waiting area when I went today.

Last week I literally sat here, witness to friends picking up their belongings, the ephemera of their lives and placing them gently into boxes. All things considered, the mood in the office was good. Cheer in the face of uncertainty, laughter instead of despair. Hugs are being freely distributed. It’s admirable, these folks. They leave me behind, not sure what I did to be spared, thanking with a significant amount of guilt and humility, whatever deity was open to listening. So to these good people whom I’ll miss, I’m going to rewind the Tivo of my life 4 years and review my experience at the Druid Hills Department of Labor.
Lay offs are hard. They are stressful. They are identity shattering. For some, the unemployment office seems less like a refuge and more of a reminder of the humiliation of losing your job – even though it’s not your fault. For myself, it was both refuge and reminder. A refuge from the dark, fetid apartment of an unemployed mook and a reminder of why my apartment had become dark and fetid. The office is in the Toco Hills Shopping Plaza, near Famous Pub. There is plenty of parking, especially considering the time of day you’d most likely be showing. Being is a shopping center, the parking was plentiful enough that I was able to park my BMW down the ways, irrationally ashamed as I was to drive it while unemployed.
The sign-​up for unemployment was relatively simple. It may have become even more simplified in the intervening 4 years, but these are my experiences. Show, sign your name, bring whatever documents of termination you had and wait your turn to be called. As I waited, I noticed the resources available: computers to search online job boards, resume writing services, job matching for some. All of these things were being fairly well-​used which I wasn’t sure to take as a good or bad sign. You will complete additional forms via computer. A well-​meaning but completely out-​of-​touch-​with-​the-​real-​world friend told me, «Don’t make the same mistake I did when I lost [
job]. The field asking for your previous salary only goes out 5 digits, so I kept crashing the computer. We ended up just putting $ 99 999 for my salary, but it took them 20 minutes to figure that out.»
Um, thanks.
Then more paperwork. Then they tell you the rules for maintaining your checks. Keep record of your job search. They provide you with lined and tabled sheets of paper, but then informed me that your own spreadsheets are fine. The woman was efficient, but kindly. You must show for at least three seminars on what I termed «How to get a job.» Considering my own background in HR, I suppressed a wry smirk. Now that I registered in person, I only needed to check in weekly online, except for the aforementioned seminars every 2 months. We’re all each assigned a «job counselor.» I knew mine was most likely overbooked, but he always had answers and returned my calls the few times I did contact him.
That was it. We all turned in our job search forms after each seminar, handwritten jumbles or well-​organized spreadsheet. In retrospect, the seminars weren’t that bad. The people running them provided just the right balance of empathy and information. I didn’t learn much to be honest. Each seminar degenerated into am ad hoc vent session/​support group, but everyone always felt a little better afterwards.
Now for the bad: the payments, strangely enough, collected over the course of 7 weeks and then distributed to me in a lump sum. Then they were spaced out as it was supposed to happen. If I had been relying solely on those checks, that would have made for a difficult first 2 months of unemployment. But ultimately they did come and were very welcome.
Now remember: you can still use this office and its resources even if you don’t qualify for unemployment. They have employment counselors, job board access, and relationships with recruiters across Atlanta. You can fax resumes and applications here if you don’t have a fax machine.
My ending was relatively happy (for now, I guess.) I found a job. My memories of the DOL while not entirely pleasant, weren’t bad either. A low bar to be sure, but considering I’m talking about a governmental agency, that’s quite a feat. Good luck to any of you, should you need to come here. And good luck to my friends, wherever the market takes you.

While I can’t say much about the career center, as I haven’t used it (I moved back to Ohio shortly after filing for unemployment), I have to take a sec to walk the line between satisfaction and annoyance with the Georgia Department of Labor.
My initial visit went fairly quickly, as far as these registrations go, but had I been in Ohio when filing, I could have done it by phone instead of having to go into the office. As it was, I only spent a couple of hours filling out paperwork and going through the orientation. And after all was said and done, I am receiving my weekly payment on time and without much hassle.
My big issue with the GA Department of Labor was not with its system, it was with one of the employees at this particular location. They deal with intrastate claims all the time, and yet one woman insisted that I should file unemployment through Ohio, and gave me a hassle about it, making me call the Ohio office from the GA office to «compare what I’d receive from them» to what I’d receive from GA (what? That is SO not how that works, even I knew that)… and after her confusing me so much that she made me cry in the middle of the office, her supervisor came to talk to me. Once she found out what was going on, she told me not to worry about it, said I had to file with GA because that’s where I’d last worked (duh), and sent me on my way.
Way too much stress for a simple registration. Their employees should know what they’re doing!
They still get three stars because my payments are coming through and the other people I dealt with were okay, but come on.

I know this is a strange topic but I need to give props to the Georgia Department of Labor. Even if you are not collecting unemployment these career centers offer you everything you need for a successful job search. They have seminars that are really helpful, salary negotiation, interviewing skills, resume building. They also have a team of people willing to help out in anyway possible and lot’s of helpful hand outs and other resources. Don’t e-​mail them, you’ll never get a response you do have to go into the office to be paid any attention, but once you are in there everyone is so sweet and informative. Next time you are thinking of switching careers the GDOL gives you everything you would find at your college career center, probably more.